Microsoft’s cloud computing business may be getting better at helping customers with huge computing projects.
The technology giant said Tuesday that it has acquired Cycle Computing, a startup specializing in helping companies perform heavy-duty computing. That includes crunching data for developing new drugs and analyzing risk in the financial services industry.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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Cycle Computing CEO Jason Stowe said that clients use his company’s technology to “fight cancer and other diseases, design faster rockets, build better hard drives, create better solar panels, and manage risk for peoples’ retirements.” Customers include Novartis, insurance firm Pacific Life, and Aerospace Corp., according to the startup’s website.
Cycle Computing’s technology helps companies more efficiently manage and plan their complex computing tasks and save money on their cloud computing bills. Customers can use the technology to spread computing tasks across multiple cloud computing services like Azure, Amazon Web Services (AMZN), and Google (GOOG).
A Microsoft spokesperson told Fortune in an email that Microsoft “will continue to support Cycle Computing clients using AWS and/or Google Cloud.” However, the spokesperson said that future versions of the technology would de-emphasize the other services. When that happens, Microsoft will help those customers migrate to Azure if they still want to use Cycle Computing’s service.
Jason Zander, Microsoft (MSFT) corporate vice president of its Azure cloud computing business, said in a blog post that Cycle Computing’s workers would become Microsoft employees. Unlike many other startups, Cycle Computing was mostly self-funded and never took investment money from venture capitalists.
